Tuesday, 28 January 2014

I have been following Fantasy Quest since its first installment a few years back and I have been dreaming of attending it my whole cosplay life. I was like Rapunzel of Tangled back then, dreaming of seeing the 'floating lights' in person rather than viewing it from her window.

Back then, I can only view photos of the cosplayers who attended the said event, watch fancams from other cosplayers and hit the 'like' button of event photos taken by awesome photographers.

As Perona of One Piece during Fantasy Quest 3 at Fernwood Gardens, Quezon City.

I got overwhelmed when I was actually in this event, the third installment of Fantasy Quest. It was like living in a real fantasy the moment I stepped inside the event place, Fernwood Gardens in Quezon City. Armed with my costume and props together with my companions, I ventured in the world that I barely know yet I thoroughly studied throughout the years.

This trip was planned about 2012, while viewing photos of the recently concluded Fantasy Quest 2. (I don't live a luxurious life where I can swing to Metro Manila via plane back and forth whenever I want to. Trips like these with 'cosplay' as the purpose is a luxury to me and only my family can pay for it. I don't have a big allowance, you know. So I had to somewhat ask my parents to sponsor this trip so that I can attend this certain event.)

I raised the idea of going to Metro Manila to my mom, asking her to take me there to cosplay after I graduate and all. She actually said yes after reinforcing her this idea over and over again. The date was convenient for me (No more classes by August) so she booked the flight and all, making it a 4-day trip to MM. (Which gave me the chance to attend the TORCH SM North Edsa event the day before FQ)

Anyway, Fantasy Quest was like a big photo shoot event for photographers and cosplayers. The event site was not an ordinary convention hall but a very gorgeous place where they hold events like weddings and birthdays. Fernwood Gardanes was breathtaking - from the gazebo and the iconic red telephone booth at the entrance to the fairy tale carriage inside it. It was a unique place to hold a cosplay con - and this fact made Fantasy Quest an event worth flying for.

EVENT DETAILS:

Fantasy Quest 3: Live on!

August 25, 2013

Fernwood Gardens, Quezon City

My mom was with me, with my brother and a friend, Alyssa.

I went as Ghost Princess Perona and Aly as Hikaru Shidou of Magic Knight Rayearth.

We did not know what to do first! We were both noobs when it comes to cosplay conventions. XD

After a moments of taking in the fact that we were actually there, we started approaching cosplayers to have our photos taken with them.

These were my favorite cosplayers during the event because of the following reasons.:

So this Captain Jack was really quirky and in character that I approached him the moment I saw him moving like Johnny Depp's character in the Pirates series. He was taking a video of the event that moment but he gladly obliged to the request.
I should have exchange cosplay cards with him!!

He gave us gold coins from the Mayans' treasure chest! I hope we won't get cursed just like what happened to the crew of the Black Pearl on the first movie!
Anyway, we imitated his poses which were so in character. Look at that facial expression here! Fab!

I am a big fan of the Fate series so I had to have a photo with Gilgamesh and Saber! My mom and Aly joined in and my brother took this.

Well, we did not know his character nor the cosplayer but we were so starstrucked by him and so we kind of followed him around while he took videos of the event and mustered our courage to ask for a photo op!
We discovered that he is Zeasonal from Thailand.
We asked for his cosplay card too (where we got his details and all.)
I gave him mine and we became friends on Facebook. Isn't awesome to talk to the cosplayers you have met even after such an event? ^_^

Because we kind of liked him so much, after a few hours we asked for a photo op again, this time on a different area in Fernwood. We asked my brother to take the photos so that me and Aly would be in it:

He is really awesome. :)

After lurking a for a few moments on that part of the place, we headed to the booths area where we found more wonderful cosplayers roaming around!

Look at all those booths selling otaku goodies! Made me wish I had a lot of money to do a shopping spree!

Oooh look at them wonderful kimonos! I was not able to ask the name of that booth. >_<

Together with Ms. Jayne Ong, the Hatah Hatah owner who sponsored a few giveaways on this blog before. It was nice to finally meet her and I was glad she remembered me!

More cosplayers~!

I had no idea what character he was cosplaying but I liked his well-made armor. I was not able to ask him after this photo was taken because we were too shy to do so!

With Merida, Rapunzel and that Kingdom Hearts girl that I forgot the name. These girls were so adoorable!

I asked for a permission for this pose. OMG I was not able to contain my love for Roy Mustang and this person had this aura of Roy in him that made me go gaga over him!

Again we were starstrucked with this cosplayer! Just like Zeasonal, our suspicion that she was a foreigner correct when we asked for a photo op. She's a Singaporean cosplayer named Xrystal and she also became my facebook friend after the event. We actually interrupted her shopping for this photo but she did not mind it at all! How nice (And she's really pretty too!)
I also got a cosplay card from her!

One last cosplayer before we headed to the stage area. Yue of Card Captor Sakura!
Isn't she wonderful? It was a quick photo op moment with her because she was rushing to the stage area too. I was not able to ask her details nor her cosplay card. :(

So we headed to the event area to witness the programs for that day.
During that time, the guests of that event were signing some materials for the fans. We discovered that the Yue that we saw at the booths area was one of the guests of the event!
How lucky we were able to have our photos taken with her!
(That's why she was rushing to the event area with a few event organizers, she was a VIP)

Japanese cosplayer Usagi and Yue :)

Kawaii Usagi-chan!

Nope they were not posing for my camera. They were posing for the guy in front of me. :)

Well, the stage area was packed with cosplayers for the signing. Aly and I did not join in the line because we wanted to just sit down and observe the event. (We were tired too, after chasing cosplayers around! LOL)

After witnessing the cosplay catwalk and the on -tage games, we asked for a photo op from more cosplayers:

With Erving Go. No I don't know who he was cosplaying that day. Ack!

No Face!! OMG Spirited Away is on the top of my list of favorite Ghibli films. I so wanted to be Chihiro that moment. In his hands were chocolate gold coins. In the movie 'Spirited Away' - No Face paid the staff of the bathhouse with gold (that turned to mud after he was gone).

With RWBY Cosplayers!
Ruby is Chiya and Weiss is Crown.
OMG We became friends online after the event! Super cool!

Showing off our goods! Received them for free from a couple of booths. Nice!

With Aileen, a friend I met online and her group of friends. Her scythe is ozzm!

What I got during my cosplay trip:

Hats and coin purses for my friends, a magazine and a post card!

Zeasonal and Xrystal's cosplay cards!

Well the event was fun! We roamed around a bit more, took videos and finally headed to the changing room to transform into our normal selves. It was really nice cosplaying out-of-town for the first time! I was able to learn a lot of things while we were observing and roaming around the area. We kind of studied the makeup techniques common to cosplayers from Metro Manila, the quality and accuracy of their costumes worn by the cosplayers and we were able to compare the difference between a 'free entrance fee' cosplay event and an event that requires you to pay an admission ticket. (LOL I have a lot to talk about that last part!)

It was nice hanging out with Aly too! She was my guide during the TORCH event and this Fantasy Quest. I wish I can attend another event with her again (together with the other HaruSuika members. >_<)

That's it! Will post the videos taken during the event soon! I just need to edit it again. I lost my files because I had my laptop reformatted a few weeks ago (no I was not able to backup my files).Thank you for reading~

Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Hey guys! So I will be discussing about wig fixing and how I do it. This is not a real tutorial though, just posting some photos of the wigs that I fixed before.

I did post a wig combing tutorial a couple of years ago. Here's a link of the video that I did using my mobile camera:

Basically fixing wigs is easy. You have to wash it first with shampoo conditioner, let it dry then comb it like how I did on the video above.

Maybe I'll make a decent post on 'how to shampoo wigs' later. For now, I would like to show what the wig will look like after using the method shown on the video above:

Before:

Original appearance of the wig after using it for a trial.

So it's not really that tangled. Just messy after moving around wearing it.

So after combing it for a few hours (patience is a big thing when fixing wigs, mind you) I achieved this:

Tadaa!! Well combed wig ready to store.

I didn't use any wig care product while fixing this clip-on. Only a hair iron to straighten out wig fibers. I usually comb my wigs before storing it because leaving it tangled makes it prone to frizz. We don't want that on cosplay wigs.

This is another wig that I fixed a few months back. I think I wore this during a shoot (at times like that, you make a lot of movements that tangles the wig that you wear) that's why the tangles on this one is crazy!

I used the magical solution while de-tangling this long wig. (Magical solution: 1/3 fabric softener, 2/3 water)

I sprayed it on and combed the tangles and then iron it using styling iron (using the combing method that's on the video above).

I think it took me about 3-4 hours to totally comb out every tangles on this wig. I used a steel comb and wide-toothed comb to carefully separate the fibers and comb it well. I want to avoid as much hair loss as possible. :)

Pretty neat, eh? I think the biggest asset in fixing wigs is not the equipment that you own but the patience that you have. The method is really easy and doing this lengthens the life span of your cosplay wig. These cosplay wigs don't come cheap so it's really important to take care of them.

Anyway I do offer wig fixing and styling services for a small fee (If you want a professional to fix or style or wigs). :) (Cosplayers must raise funds in little ways, you know.)

Disclaimer: I bought this wig with my own money. I was not paid or sponsored to do this review.

About the shop:Kirei Itami is an online shop based on Facebook managed by two cosplayers namely Andrea and Khaylee. They mainly offer pre-order and onhand cosplay wigs of different brands. This was my first time transacting with them and I must say, I had a great shopping experience. They responded my messages promptly and even accommodated my order which was not included in their catalog.

This is Saber from Fate/Stay Night :)
Photo by Sheed

So..my order was the 3-in-1 Saber cosplay wig from Lucaille. It was a pre order wig, meaning the owners do not have the product with them and they have to order it from the company by batch (pertaining to batch cut-off). SO I have to pay the full amount and wait for about 2-3 weeks before the wig arrives.

The wig was worth the wait!

1,730 PHP
Free Shipping and Wig Cap

So why is it called 3-in-1 cosplay wig? Well, because I can wear it to 3 different versions of Saber:

Default Saber/Saber Nero

Fate/Zero Saber in suit

Saber Lily

The wig is made of Japanese Kanekalon fiber and is heat resistant ( can be curled or iron if desired). When it comes buying wigs with complicated styling, I prefer the brand Lucaille. It's one of the companies that produce high end cosplay wigs with reasonable prices. This Saber wig is a bit pricey compared to other brands' Saber wig but because of its features: the big bun and the thick and long base wig, I did not hesitate in buying this brand. And to think, it's budget friendly than others if you are planning to cosplay other versions of Saber. Instead of buying a whole new wig for your future Saber cosplays, you can just remove the bun and it can be Saber Lily's wig or tie the base wig low and it can be Fate/Zero Saber's wig. How cool is that? :)

Here are some of the photos taken upon opening the package:

The wig order came with a free wig cap. Both wig and bun was wrapped in wig net to prevent them from tangles.

Wig was with original tag that says it's from Lucaille and that it's a Saber wig. No special packaging whatsoever.

The ahoge (group of hair strands that stands on the top of the wig).
You have to fix the ahoge for it to stand, although it does not stand for a long time.

The base wig was tied up nicely. The ponytail can't be removed easily. I tried.

Lucaille tag on the base wig net, proving that it really is a Lucaille brand wig.

Wig net is laced type, common for branded wigs.

Traces of glue stick visible on the bun. >_<
Other than that, the entire thing is clean.

The bun is really huge! And it fits perfectly on the base wig's thick ponytail.

The two set of clips holds on to the base wig. It easily falls off if not properly secured. >_<

So I fixed the ahoge a bit and it stood up! :)

The bangs on the base wig is really long which is preferred so that it can be styled to the shape of the user's face.

Taken with flash. The wig appears light blonde.

Taken without flash. I don't know how to place this color. It looks a little brown here.

Overall...

Color: 5/5

Quality: 4/5

The downer of this wig: after wearing it for a few ours in an event is that it slowly falls of my head due to the weight of the ponytail and bun. You have to adjust it from time to time so that it won't completely come off your head! (I fixed this problem after the event. Find out how on my next wig post soon!)

Also, if not properly secured, the bun also falls off the pony tail! the clips inside it does not hold on to the base wig enough. The bun almost fell off during my cosplay ramp on the event. >__<

I am pretty much satisfied with the wig. It is what I expected after browsing the product photos from the company's website. After combing the wig a bit, it did not have any massive fiber falls.. It is not shiny compared to cheaper brands/cosplay wigs. The fibers are strong and thick which is preferred for cosplay wigs (we use them more than once or twice compared to ordinary party wigs).

The fibers are smooth and soft and the wig does not have any funny smell (smell is a big factor for me. LOL)

Would you recommend this wig brand to other cosplayers?

Oh yes! For a wig that you can cosplay 3 characters with... this is worth your money.

I recommend this wig brand to those cosplayers who want to cosplay more than one version of Saber and have a moderately high budget for a wig. (Every penny is worth it though!)

I would also like to recommend the shop Kirei Itami .They were really accommodating and patient in answering queries and such. The wig arrived on the expected time of arrival that they gave me which is a plus for them. It might not be a famous cosplay wig shop on facebook but at least they give good service. Goes to show that popularity does not justify an online shop's quality of service. ^_^